“The Boiling Frog Phenomenon”

December 29, 2009

The new year is approaching fast and year after year “the new year resolution people” are gung ho about going to the gym and getting in shape for the new year.

We already know 95% fail because of lack of accountability.

“The Boiling Fog Phenomenon” is another reason that the 95% quite after only a few weeks.

As your personal trainer and coach it is my duty to educate you for long term success.

If you’ve ever yo-yo’d on a diet or tried to start an exercise program, but couldn’t stick to it, this one is for you.

The following single bit of information has been a “game changer” for many who used to struggle.

It all boils down to …

“The Boiling Frog Phenomenon”

It’s a psychological phenomenon that dates back to research conducted at Johns Hopkins University way back in 1882.

Here’s how it works.

Imagine you want to cook a frog …

If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. But if you place a frog into a pot of lukewarm water and slowly turn up the heat, it will stay happily inside the pot … and before the frog realizes what is happening … you have frog soup.

The human nervous system works much the same way.

If you try to introduce a radical change in your life, your system fights back – much like the frog jumping out of the pot of boiling water.

To create lasting change – you simply have to slowly turn up the heat …

Over time, these tiny changes are almost imperceptible to your nervous system, but over time they add up to HUGE transformations.

This is similar to the Japanese concept of “kaizen” whereby one makes small constant improvements that eventually add up and make a radical difference.

Want to see how it works?

Let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds.

Knowing the Boiling Frog technique, you know that making a sudden, dramatic change in your diet and exercise habits won’t likely stick.

It’s too much of a shock to the system.

A smarter way to go is make a more gradual change like this:

Week 1 – Stop drinking canned sodas. Instead drink water.

That’s it! Don’t do anything else. Just that one change.

Then …

Week 2 – Take long brisk walks every other day

And so on …

At the end of a year you’ll have a whole new set of habits and you’ll be a totally different person.

And you know what?

It will stick!

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